Posted April 22, 201114 yr comment_5470279 1. Jesse Hernandez/The Steel Gladiator v Bruiser Brody/Nord the Barbarian OK Steel Gladiator is the best jobber name. And he looks like a total choad. He looks like Murderface from Dethklok, and he's wearing a t-shirt UNDER his singlet. What a goob. Match spills to the floor immediately and Brody/Nord destroy the guys on the outside and get DQ'd. 2. Brad Rheingans v Pistol Pete Match starts out really good, total Rheingans showcase. He does a bunch of cool matwork and bridges, does a cool inverted cravate into a neckbreaker, cool trip takedowns, bunch of neat stuff. But then Pete (ANOTHER guy wearing a t-shirt under his singlet!) holds a 3 minute nerve hold then when Brad gets out, Pete stalls on the floor for a minute. Back in and Brad hits an atomic drop and a gutwrench suplex and that's all she wrote. Started off cool, fizzled out soon thereafter. *The Midnight Rockers guest on “In this Corner” with Larry Nelson and Larry Zbyszko* Awesome interview which felt like a shoot at points, with Larry getting into it with Shawn/Marty about how they don't know shit, and Marty making fun of Larry's bald spot. Potential EXTRA. 3. Ray Stevens v Red Bastien – Chicago, IL=2 09/29/73 How many full matches from each of these guys exist from the 70s? I always really enjoy them when I see them. Bastien was a crazy bumper. 4. Mike Rotunda v Doug Somers I actually really liked this. Somers controls most of it with nice headlock punches that appear to bust open Rotundo's eye. By the end of the match he has a big mouse under the cut. When Rotundo takes back control Somers takes a super high backdrop bump. Awkwardly, about halfway through the match, Somers has very visible shit stains on the underside of his trunks. It really made every bump mean that much more, since the spot appeared to be growing as the match went on. Yikes. Crowd was way behind Rotundo here and it made the match pretty exciting.
June 15, 201114 yr comment_5473500 Jesse Hernandez/The Steel Gladiator v Bruiser Brody/Nord the Barbarian This just pisses you off. You really want to see Brody and Nord lay on an epic asskicking and they just don't. I mean this is a steamrolling but not to the degree you would want. Brad Rheingans v Pistol Pete Yeah Rheingans was great here. It's a crying shame he really didn't get a lot of showcase matches that played to his strengths. The Martel match is tremendous because he has somebody to go with. Pete is a toy to play with at the beginning of this and Rheingans works great escapes, a sweet cravate/neckbreaker combo and also did a good job with small touch selling which is always something I look for in tv matches. Sadly the nervehold does kill this one dead. Too bad. Rheingans could go Rheingans promo on Zhukov *The Midnight Rockers guest on “In this Corner” with Larry Nelson and Larry Zbyszko* Larry lecturing the young punks is pretty fucking great and Jannetty in particular reacts to it in some really amusing ways. Guaranteed EXTRA Bastien v. STevens stuff was fun but irrelevant. Doug Somers v. Mike Rotundo I really don't buy Rontundo as a spry babyface. I know that's what he was for years, but the VK Wallstreet/IRS years just kill that image for me. Regardless his spryness was in effect early and I liked the criss cross exchange early and Rotundo as the "one upping" babyface was nice early theme. Somers theatrical bump over the top was cool and the follow up chop from Rotundo looked and sounded brutal. Rotundo's headlock was well enough worked as a base where things didn't feel boring and when they did come up for something it was something cool like the aforementioned Somers bump or his faceplant off the top off a missed headbutt. Somers takes over on a low blow with Somers working the ref that it was a legit blow and then following up with his gutbuster. Somers deliberate shots, stomps, eyerakes, et all looked really good. Somers starts jawing with Greg Gagne at the announce table and Rotundo is now bleeding from the eye. Rotundo breifly fights back but Somers targets the cut which was kind of his specialty. Rotundo comes back off of Somers back body drop bump which is his other specialty. Man, this is really a good match, especially when you consider that Rotundo is not someone I like at all. I even liked the finish as Somers tosses Rotundo to the floor but on the suplex attempt Rotundo falls forward for the flash pin. This is not off the charts great, but I could see this on the set. Rotundo promo.
